Croupier
A man finds his personal and professional loyalties divides by his new career at a casino in this crime drama. Jack Manfred (Clive Owen) is a cocky, supremely confident man who wants to be a writer. Jack's long struggle to finish his first novel has landed him deep in debt, and his father (Nicholas Ball) volunteers to get him a job in a casino in London. While Jack doesn't gamble himself, he has the dexterity (and enough contempt for the game) to be a good dealer. He's soon making a tidy living as a dealer, despite the objections of his girlfriend, Marion (Gina McKee), who thinks his job is taking him away from his true calling as a writer. Against the orders of his boss, Jack has a fling with Bella (Kate Hardie), another dealer at the casino, and allows himself to be seduced by one of his customers, Jani (Alex Kingston). However, it turns out Jani wants more than sex from Jack; she and her compatriots have a plan to rob the casino and they want Jack to be their man on the inside. Croupier was directed by Mike Hodges, whose first film was the classic British thriller Get Carter. more..
Director: Mike Hodges
Starring: Clive Owen, Alex Kingston, Kate Hardie, Gina McKee, Nicholas Ball
Intense, hypnotic, assured, Croupier mesmerizes from its opening image of a roulette ball on the move.
Taut, tense and enthralling, as smart and surprising as it protagonist.
So sharp and dryly urbane in its mod-Brit take on the noir, noir, noir, noir world of gambling, dames, and pulp fiction, it makes higher-profile attempts like ''Rounders'' look blah, blah, blah, blah.
It's brilliantly precise in its detailing, stylishly jagged and sensual by turns, and utterly unpredictable.
A tiny treasure: grown-up, tight, sexy, suspenseful and with a mildly ambiguous wrap-up that stimulates the mind rather than confusing it.
Best Motion Picture
Edgar Allan Poe Awards (2001)
Top Ten Films
National Board of Review (2000)
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